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…..is a review. Well, ok, I would like people to buy my books, but if you’ve done that already, then thank you. But if you have a bit more time then I would really appreciate it if you could leave a review on Amazon, and Goodreads (if you are on there), even the same one copy and pasted on both sites.

Now, I know there are lots of issues with Amazon, and it is not the only place to buy books, or the best for various reasons. I would always encourage people to buy first from their local bookshop or local/national chain (Waterstones here in the UK). However, a lot of people use Amazon to browse as it is easy and convenient, and cheap at times, but if you have an account on there you can still leave a review for any product. Why Amazon? And what difference will it make?

Well, Amazon has complex algorithms I won’t even pretend to try and understand, but the bottom line from what I’ve been told is – the more reviews on there, the better. This means the books get picked up and promoted, put on special deals, put on lists and so on. That means my books will get put in front of more potential readers. Even if you read the book a while ago it doesn’t matter. Amazon doesn’t ask when you read the book like Goodreads, so you can leave a review at any time.

The other reason to leave a review is for the readers. People want to find out why you particularly liked a book. What was it that you enjoyed? Was it the characters? The action? The style of writing or the pace? The themes it explored? The blurb on a book can only tell you so much out of necessity to avoid spoilers and because of space, but readers can often talk about a book at length without spoiling every beat of the story.

A quick note, as I have had few people ask. Below is the list of all my books and my recommendation for the reading order, which isn’t what you might think.

I will be appearing at MCM Comic Con London in just over a week and a bit’s time. This huge event is being held at the Excel Centre in London.

Below are a list of my panels and signings and I will be mooching around the event on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th October. I hope to see some of you there!

Saturday

17:00pm – 17:45pm – Creator Stage: So, you want to be a writer

If you’ve ever wanted to be a writer than this panel is for you. Moderator and Author Ed Cox (The Relic Guild trilogy) joins authors Marieke Nijkamp (Before I let go) Stephen Aryan (Magefall) Lucy Hounsom (The World Maker Trilogy) Tim Pratt (The Wrong Stars) and Jeanette NG (Under the Pendulum Sun) as they discuss what it takes to be a writer.

To celebrate the forthcoming release of Mageborn, book 1 in the new Age of Dread trilogy which starts in October, I’m doing a Goodreads giveaway of Chaosmage.

Win 1 of 5 signed copies of Chaosmage, posted free, worldwide.

All you need to do is be a member of Goodreads (which is free to join) and enter the giveaway. That’s it.

Quick reminder, Chaosmage is the THIRD book in the first trilogy (The Age of Darkness). Once you’ve read it and the first two books, you’ll be all up to date in time for Mageborn, October 3-5th depending on where you are in the world.

My first series with Orbit, the Age of Darkness, is now at an end. This first trilogy was many years in the making but for you lucky readers, it only took 13 months to come out (September 2015, April 2016 and now October 2016). So all three books are now out there. If you were waiting until the trilogy was done before dipping your toe in, then get stuck in now.

Interviews

I’ve recently done a couple of events to promote Chaosmage and the trilogy as a whole, including some blog posts and interviews. The first of which is with DJ over on his book blog where I talk about my influences for the series, give some general info on characters, the overall themes and the world. It’s a good introduction to the series and there are no spoilers.

I was also recently a guest on the I Should Be Writing podcast, with Mur Lafferty, so keep an eye out for my episode which will be coming up in a couple of weeks time, either on the website or via iTunes.

I also wrote an article for Sci Fi Bulletin which you can read here about Fantasy being an Umbrella, which makes complete sense, right?

The Age of Dread

The big news I’ve been sitting on for months is now out of the bag. I’m delighted to announce that Orbit books have signed me up for a new fantasy trilogy, called the Age of Dread. This series follows on from the previous one, and it is set in the same world a few years after the events of Chaosmage. I can’t say too much about the book, but I can reveal that this trilogy will be more closely tied together than the Age of Darkness.

So we will follow the same characters through the series and it is one massive sprawling story. I’m currently hard at work, in the home stretch in fact, of the first draft of book 1 and am currently a little ahead of my deadline, for the moment! The first book, currently called Seeds of Destruction (although this might change), will be published in October 2017, which seems like a long way off, but from this side of the table, it’s not. With that in mind, I have lots of writing to do before then, so I better get on with it.